I've worked as either a journalist, editor or columnist for 16 years, first in the UK and now in the US, focusing on business, finance and the arts. This blog is about art, investing, and where those two worlds collide. Words I've put in a row have appeared on the BBC website and in the Financial Times, The Economist, Art + Auction Magazine, Worth Magazine and The Guardian, among others. I've written about everything from pension trusts for artists to art investment vacations, but also plenty of straight investment and personal finance articles on topics such as exchange traded funds and municipal bond funds, as well as general art and art business articles about artists, galleries and art communities. I also write about the market for other collectibles such as wine, photography, vintage cars, jewelry and furniture. You can find some of my other business, finance and arts articles, along with some travel and lifestyle pieces, on kathryntully.com. Follow me on twitter.com/KathrynTully or find me on Facebook at facebook.com/forbespriceless.

Andy Warhol is the closest thing the art market has to a commodity investment. He has an iconic and instantly recognizable name and oeuvre, he was prolific in his output, and his works are sold at auction frequently, often at dizzying prices.

According to artprice, he was the world’s third best-selling artist in terms of total auction revenue in 2011, after two Chinese artists, Zhang Daqian and Qi Baishi. Fetching a hammer price of $33 million, his Double Elvis was also the sixth most expensive art work sold at auction in the first half of 2012. Given that the sale prices fetched for many of his silk screens keep going up, he presents a compelling argument for those who see the investment potential in art.

One of the biggest questions about the tremendous success of Warhol in the auction market is whether the global appeal of his pop iconography has pushed up prices so dramatically or whether it is just that so many Andy Warhols come up for auction every year, they represent one of the most liquid parts of the art market.

The announcement yesterday that The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts is going to sell over 20,000 Warhol works through Christie’s is sure to test the liquidity theory. The foundation hopes to raise over $100 million by selling off its whole stock of Warhol silk screen paintings, prints, drawings, collages and photos.

It seems pretty astonishing that the foundation set up in his name would flood the market with Andy Warhols. Sure, Christie’s says it will release this vast inventory incrementally, through a series of physical auctions and online sales, over several years. But it is planning to auction off some 350 of the most valuable works in one sale on November 12. Highlights will include Three Targets, a 19-foot-long silkscreen produced near the end of Warhol’s career, which is expected to fetch up to $1.5 million, and a red Jackie, a screen print and paper collage from 1960 expected to fetch up to $300,000.

That could present a problem for anyone else planning to sell a Warhol during the fall auction season. Sotheby’s sale of Old Master, Modern and Contemporary Prints in London on September 19 features no less than 24 Warhol prints in just one auction, including three prints inspired by Edvard Munch’s The Scream, which broke all auction records when it sold for $119.9 million this year. Warhol’s1966 canvas ofMarlon Brando on a motorcycle was expected to fetch around $20 million when it is sold at Christie’s this November. Will it now?

Perhaps prices will stay buoyant. After all, the works the foundation is selling are mostly lower value items, so may not upset demand for Warhol’s most coveted paintings like Marlon. Christie’s also believes that online auctions will reach Warhol fans that would never normally have access to his works.

It’s true that online sales have fetched large sums for Warhol works before and perhaps seasoned and new collectors will jump at the last chance to buy works that have never been seen before directly from the Warhol foundation, where the provenance of the work is assured.

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Daqian Zhang and Baishi Qi??? Given that they are the top selling artists in the world you should probably know their names are written as Zhang Daqian and Qi Baishi. Writing them as you did gives the appearance that the extent of your research was a google search.

Artprice lists family names last in the article I reference, presumably to avoid confusion in a longer list of different artists. But yes, I should have referred to them to them in the text as they would normally appear.